Death penalty vote could come down to practicalities

The new lethal injection facility at San Quentin State Prison was completed in 2010 but has yet to be used. ASSOCIATED PRESS FILE PHOTO

While core advocates on either side have long argued over whether the death penalty is moral and just, the outcome of Proposition 34 could hinge on more practical issues: whether it's worth the cost, whether the process can be made efficient, and whether voters trust that the worst killers would indeed remain in prison until they die.

The measure calls for capital punishment in California to be replaced with life in prison without the possibility of parole. The death penalty is applied only to the most heinous murders, including serial killers, contract killers, child killers and cop killers.

California voters have twice affirmed their support for the death penalty – 68 percent voted for it in 1972; 71 percent did so in 1978. But it's unlikely they envisioned its subsequent re-implementation. It's only been carried out for 14 of the past 45 years because of legal challenges and court rulings. In that time, there have been just 13 executions in the state while 725 inmates sit on death row.

The nonpartisan state Legislative Analyst's Office estimates the state could save more than $100 million annually if Prop. 34 passes, thanks to shorter trials, fewer appeals, the need for fewer judges and prosecutors, and savings from ending the more costly housing of death row inmates.

"It's not about saving money," Hutchens said. "It's about whether you're for the death penalty or not. ... It's a matter of making sure the person is never on the street again to reoffend."

Hutchens says that despite the language in Prop. 34 ensuring life in prison without parole, future governors could intervene to commute sentences and future voters could roll back the life sentence requirement.

She also said the death penalty helps bring closure for many victims and that shortcomings in the process can be addressed.

"It's dysfunctional," he said. "Death row inmates in California aren't being executed, for the most part. They're dying in prison."

Executions in the state have been on hold since 2006, suspended by courts considering cases alleging the state's three-drug lethal injection could cause "cruel and unusual suffering." But even if that obstacle is removed, there are unlikely to be a glut of executions, Howe said.

"In 14 years, they executed 13 people," he said. "The money could be spent on schools and other good things, rather than executing a half-dozen or fewer people a year."

While death row inmates cost more than life-sentence inmates, death row inmates are far more likely to die in prison than be executed. Since 1984, 84 have died in prison, most of natural causes or suicide.

If the method-of-execution issue is resolved, the biggest problem with the process will be the California Supreme Court, Howe said. Death sentences are automatically appealed to the state's high court, bypassing the appeals court.

"There are just seven judges on the Supreme Court," he said. "They can't handle all the cases. And there aren't enough defense lawyers who want to take the cases. The people who say, 'fix the system,' are willing to spend even more money than is being spent already."

Howe said Texas has a court that handles only death penalty cases and leads the nation in executions – 489 since 1976. But Howe noted that, unlike California, evidence has arisen in Texas indicating that innocent people may have been put to death.

MONEY CONCERN GROWS

While Hutchens says the issue isn't about money, many voters disagree.

When the Field Poll began asking Californians in 1959 if the wanted to keep the death penalty, 49 percent said "Yes," 29 percent said "No" and 22 percent had no opinion.

The new lethal injection facility at San Quentin State Prison was completed in 2010 but has yet to be used. ASSOCIATED PRESS FILE PHOTO
Scott Howe, a criminal justice professor at Chapman Unversity, says that the worst murderers deserve the death penalty, but calls California's death penalty "dysfunctional." PHOTO COURTESY OF CHAPMAN UNIVERSITY
Orange County Sheriff Sandra Hutchens, a Proposition 34 opponent, is conerned that despite the measure's assurance of life without parole that some could received a commuted sentence from a governor. REGISTER FILE PHOTO

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